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Posts Tagged ‘Matt LaPorta.’

The Cleveland Indians expected a great deal out of Beau Mills, but that is usually the case with a First-round Draft pick. After all, he was the 13th overall pick of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. The first baseman/third baseman’s play didn’t satisfy the front office, so he has been dealt to MLB team in southwest Ohio.

Beau Mills (courtesy of Columbus Clippers)

Cleveland traded Mills to Cincinnati in exchange for cash in a Minor League deal on Thursday, June 21. Mills has been assigned to Double-A Pensacola in the Reds’ organization. Mills had start the 2012 MiLB season with the Columbus Clippers of the Triple-A International League.

This season, Mills as a designated hitter/first baseman, he batted just .197 with seven homers and 21 RBIs in 39 games for Triple-A Columbus. He can also play third base. Mills’ production caused him to fall to third on the Indians organizational depth chart behind Matt LaPorta and Russ Canzler at first base for the Clippers.

In six minor league seasons with the Indians organization, the 25-year-old Mills hit .267 with 76 home runs and 375 RBI’s.

If anyone knows how to get up and down Interstate 71 North to Cleveland and South to Columbus, it’s Travis Buck. He has been up and down several times this year, most recently on Friday to make room for Travis Hafner to come off the disabled list.

On Saturday, he was recalled from Triple-A Columbus to replace Matt LaPorta who will be on the diasbled list for two to three weeks with a sprain of his right ankle.

LaPorta was having a nice season hitting .242 with eight homers and 32 RBI’s in 59 games before his injury.

The Cleveland Indians showed that they were eager to get back on the baseball field after two straight rainouts at home, by traveling to Missouri to take on the Kansas City Royals.

The Tribe scored 10 runs in the fourth inning on Monday night as they routed Kansas City 19-1. It matched their biggest inning of the season.

The Indians pounded out 20 hits to improve to 25-13. The scoring was the most runs Cleveland has scored since beating the Yankees 22-4 on April 18, 2009. 14 of the runs were charged to Vin Mazzaro, the third Royals pitcher of the night.

Josh Tomlin (5-1) allowed one run on five hits in six innings of pitching.

Offensive stars include Michael Brantley with a career-high four RBI’s, Matt LaPorta reached base five straight times with four hits and a walk, Orlando Cabrera had three hits, Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo each had two hits.

The Columbus Clippers got on the back of Chad Huffman to a second straight win over IL West Division rival Louisville Bats by a dominating score of 19-3 on Thursday night. Hoffman became the first Columbus player since Matt LaPorta to homer three times in one game and set a franchise record with 10 RBI’s.

Johnny Cueto, on a rehab assignment from the Cincinnati Reds, struggled in his second rehab start, going 1.2 innings and allowing eight earned runs before leaving after 68 pitches. The Bats bullpen was terrible. David Johnson walked five and allowed seven runs in 2.1 innings. Matt Klinker and Micheal Griffin each allowed two runs. The only pitcher who threw the ball well was Daniel Ray Herrera who held the Clippers in check.

Johnny Cueto (file photo)

Travis Buck played his first game as a Clipper and had hits in each of his first four at-bats, finishing 4-6 with three RBI’s.

Zach McAllister won his third game of the season, throwing six innings and giving up one run. Jess Todd and Joe Martinez closed out the game to pull the Clippers into a first place tie with Louisville in the IL West Division.

One of the Cleveland Indians strong points in the second half of the 2010 season was their bullpen and it has pitched well so far this year.

Chad Durbin, Rafael Perez, Frank Herrmann, Tony Sipp and Vinnie Pestano all pitched well as the Indians beat the Red Sox 8-4 in Cleveland for their third straight win. The Red Sox dropped to 0-5 and are off to their worst start since 1996.

The Indians also showed that they can hit the baseball. Shin-Soo Choo, Matt LaPorta and Asdrubal Cabrera homered. Cabrera had the biggest of them all, a three-run drive to the right-field seats in the sixth inning for a 7-2 lead and giving him a 4-RBI night.